Study: 30% of kids have two or more sugary drinks a day

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN

Updated 0910 GMT (1710 HKT) January 26, 2017

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

We took the most popular food brands among Americans, in nine categories young kids love, and used the current US dietary guidelines to illustrate what the daily recommended amount of sugar for kids looks like. Our math: Each of these images represents 33 grams of sugar. The recommendation is that added sugar should equal less than 10% of one's daily caloric needs. The median calories for moderately active 4- to 8-year-olds is 1,500 calories. So we calculated 9% of 1,500 as 135 calories, which equals 33 grams of sugar per day. If your child consumes what is pictured, they will probably have maxed out their recommended sugar intake for the whole day.

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

For a standard 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola, about four-fifths of the can equals 33 grams of sugar.

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

For a standard 6-ounce container of Yoplait yogurt (strawberry), one plus four-fifths of another equals 33 grams of sugar.

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

For a 20-ounce bottle of Gatorade, there are 33 grams of sugar in about 97% of the bottle.

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

For an 8-ounce bottle of Nesquik low-fat chocolate milk, one and a half bottles equals 33 grams of sugar.

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

For a 6.75-ounce carton of Mott's apple juice, one plus another two-fifths of a carton equals 33 grams of sugar.

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

For a 0.9 oz bag of Welch's Mixed Fruit snacks, there are 33 grams of sugar in three bags.

For Honey Nut Cheerios, three plus two-thirds servings equals 33 grams of sugar. (One serving is three-quarters of a cup.)

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Photos:How much sugar is your kid eating?

For a standard 52.7-gram Snickers, one plus one-fifth of a bar equals 33 grams of sugar.

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Story highlights

Nearly two-thirds of kids consumed at least one sugary drink on any given day, data show

"Sugar-sweetened beverages are still the top source of added sugars," one expert says

(CNN)A new study sheds light on just how many calories and added sugars children are drinking.

Almost two-thirds of children in the United States consumed at least one sugary beverage on any given day -- and roughly 30% consumed two or more a day -- between 2011 and 2014, according to the study, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

On average, drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day provided more than 10% of the total daily calories among the children, said Asher Rosinger, epidemic intelligence service officer at the CDC and lead author of the study.

Current US dietary guidelines recommend consuming less than 10% of your daily calories from added sugars and limiting or removing sugar-sweetened beverages from your diet.

He said that the study provides the most recent estimates of the calories children are consuming from sugar-sweetened beverages.

In response, Rachel Hicks, a spokeswoman for the American Beverage Association, issued a statement that said, "America's beverage companies agree that children and adults should be mindful of the calories they consume from sugar."

The researchers assessed the number of times children and adults drank sugar-sweetened beverages -- such as regular soda, certain fruit drinks, sports and energy drinks, and sweetened coffees and teas -- and then summed the number of calories.

The researchers found that among children, 2 to 19 years old, 64.5% of boys and 61.3% of girls consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on a given day.

Six teaspoons a day would be less than 10% of daily calories for most children, said Dr. Miriam Vos, an associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, who was lead author of those recommendations.

"Sugar-sweetened beverages are still the top source of added sugars for children in the US and cause unhealthy weight gain," Vos said.

"We still have a long way to go in ensuring health for children by reducing consumption of added sugars," she said.

The new study showed differences among age and ethnic groups.

Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

In the following slides, we compare the amount of sugar found in some of America's top-selling beverages -- according to Beverage Industry magazine's 2013 State of the Industry Report -- to the sugar found in common sugary snacks.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Soda: Coca-Cola – A 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola Classic contains 65 grams of sugar, which is the same amount of sugar found in five Little Debbie Swiss Rolls.

Juice: Minute Maid 100% Apple Juice – This 15.2-ounce bottle contains 49 grams of sugar, which is about the amount of sugar in 10 Oreos. Sugar occurs naturally in fruit, but natural sugar isn't any different in chemical structure from what most people refer to as added sugar. The body processes both the same way. One benefit of eating whole fruit is the fiber that helps slow absorption; that fiber is generally lost in the juice-making process.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Juice: SunnyD Original – A 16-ounce bottle of SunnyD Original contains 28 grams of sugar. Each these six Oreos contains about 4.6 grams of sugar.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Tea: Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng & Honey – A 23-ounce can of Arizona Green Tea contains51 grams of sugar, which is about the same as can be found in 20 Hershey's Kisses. The World Health Organization recently proposed new guidelines that recommend consuming less than 5% of our total daily calories from added sugars. For an adult at a normal body mass index, or BMI, 5% would be around 25 grams of sugar -- or six teaspoons.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Tea: Lipton Lemon Iced Tea – There are 32 grams of sugar in this 20-ounce bottle of iced tea. Each of these 12 Hershey's Kisses contains approximately 2.5 grams of sugar.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Energy drink: Red Bull – Three-quarters of a cup of generic-brand frosted flakes contains about 11 grams of sugar. This 16-ounce can of Red Bull has 52 grams of sugar. Red Bull and many of the companies in this gallery offer lower or no-sugar versions of their drinks. "Nearly half -- 45% -- of all non-alcoholic beverages contain 0% (sugar)," said Christopher Gindlesperger, spokesman for the American Beverage Association.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Energy drink: Monster Energy – This 16-ounce can of Monster Energy has 54 grams of sugar. It contains the same amount of sugar as about 3.5 cups of frosted flakes.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Milk: Generic skim milk – An 8-ounce glass of skim milk has about 11 grams of sugar. A single Starburst candy has 2.7 grams.

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Photos:How much sugar is in that drink?

Milk: Silk Vanilla Soymilk – A glass of vanilla soymilk has about 8 grams of sugar, which is equal to the amount found in three Starbursts.

As for people 20 and older, the researchers found that about half -- 53.6% of men and 45.1% of women -- consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on a given day from 2011 to 2014.

The data showed that, overall, adults consumed an average of 145 calories and 6.5% of their daily energy intake from sugary drinks.

Young adults had the highest mean intake, and non-Hispanic Asian men and women consumed the fewest calories from sugary drinks.

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The American Beverage Association indicated in its statement that it has launched various initiatives in an effort to encourage healthy calorie intakes among Americans.

"We are committed to being part of real solutions to public health challenges with initiatives like Balance Calories, which aims to reduce sugar and calories consumed from beverages across America. We also have voluntarily placed clear calorie labels on the front of every bottle, can and pack we produce. Through our School Beverage Guidelines, we voluntarily removed full-calorie sodas from schools, replacing them with a range of lower-calorie and smaller-portion choices," the statement said.

In 2009-2010, six in 10 children and five in 10 adults in the US drank a sugar-sweetened beverage on a given day. On average, youth consumed 155 calories and adults took in 151 calories, according to the CDC.